Inexpensive Updates For Your Dining Room Table

If you’ve ever watched Sandra Lee on “Semi-Homemade” on the Food Network, you’ll know that a “table-scape” is the way she decorates her dining room for company. 

As much as I admire her new curtains, plates, silverware and cloth napkins that she changes for each get-together, it seems like a lot of work (and, money!).

This article is about creating a table that looks inviting for company, but doesn’t take a lot of time, effort or money.

Mix & Match Linens
To make things easy, I keep some nice, cloth tablecloths in neutral colors on-hand. When I see placemats on sale in interesting colors or textures, I pick them up to dress up the table and add pops of color. A few other items I pick up to mix and match are table runners, cloth napkins and napkin rings. I recommend Pier 1 (1515 Route 22 West, Watchung), which has an eclectic and modern take on home design and often has amazing clearance prices.

Re-Purposing Antiques
Right now, my everyday table is covered by a simple, white tablecloth that my great grandmother made and used in her own dining room years ago. I have a modern vase of tall, deep red faux flowers, with bright green leaves and a set of 6 short bright green candles (from Home Goods). I incorporated bright green, woven mats for a summery feel.

I will probably leave my table with this look until sometime in September, when I’ll switch to deeper, harvest-colored hues and accessories. I’ll be popping my head into Home Goods (100 Rte 46, Budd Lake) in the near future, which is really my go-to place for finding pricey-looking items that have those cheerful (and cost-effective) red markdown stickers on the back.

Quick Updates for Company
My favorite way to welcome company is to have a beautiful vase of flowers. It’s fresh, relatively inexpensive and it’s a bit of an old-fashioned greeting that people appreciate. 

To get the freshest flowers at a great price, you might be able to start with a bouquet from your own yard. Blossoming bushes with budding stalks can look very elegant in a tall vase.

A former coworker once gave me some great advice - visit your local florist and bring along your best vase, then ask to have the florist create the arrangement in it.  This way you don’t have to transfer or re-arrange when you get home. 

In terms of flowers that are available in our area, we are moving out of the summer flowers and into the early fall blooms. I spoke with Michelle Barcheski from Weis Markets in Hackkettstown, who offered, “Right now sunflowers are on sale, freshly cut from Canada and South America. A 5-stem sunflower arrangement is $4 on sale. We also have potted sunflowers 2/$7.”

She recommended another pretty, but budget-friendly arrangement, which are “Six-stem roses, which are $5 on sale in assorted colors."

"Also, as we approach fall, mums will be coming out in full force. Right now, the 6” mums are only $1.99,” she added.